


Misguided

by Rival_Silver



Category: Pocket Monsters SPECIAL | Pokemon Adventures, Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: M/M, Multi, Pokemon, Preciousmetalshipping, huntershipping - Freeform, originalshipping - Freeform, teamrocket
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:00:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26563270
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rival_Silver/pseuds/Rival_Silver
Summary: Team Rocket has returned once more, sparking chaos across the Johto region. Dexholder Gold is more than confident he's got what it takes to defeat them yet again. However, the evil organization has a new leader this time around, and the trainer from New Bark Town realizes he might have bit off more than he can chew.
Relationships: Gold/Silver (Pokemon Adventures)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 27





	1. Same Old Same Old

**Author's Note:**

> Note that this fic mostly follows the continuity of the manga in terms of it's characters and their own personal developments and relationships. Many of the past events referenced within it, however, are taken from the game instead.

There was no doubting that Gold wasn’t really the brightest, but even he could tell what was going on here. Mysterious interference at the radio tower, mischief in Azalea Town, all of this was practically routine. Team Rocket had come back not once, but twice. It was all happening again. The only mystery at that point was figuring out exactly what ridiculous end goal they had from all of this. He practically rolled his eyes when his friend had called to give him the news.

“Aren’t you worried?” Crys asked. The stress in her voice was obvious, even over the Pokegear. 

“Worried? Ha! Have you even met me? New Bark Town’s very own Pokemon master doesn’t get  _ worried.  _ Especially not about some washed up gang of criminals that he’s already dragged through the dirt two times over.” To say Gold was confident would be an understatement. In fact, he was borderline excited. It had been a while since he’d been on a big adventure. A couple of years at least. Saving the world for the third time would surely spice things up a bit, and Gold was itching to battle.

“I swear, you’re too much sometimes, Gold. But I’m glad you think you have this under control. I’m praying to Arceus that you’re right.” Crys sighed. “So you’ll probably want to do some investigating and figure out what’s going on, right? Where are you going to start?” The line went silent for a moment. Gold hadn’t exactly thought about that part. Diving into battle and brute-forcing his way into victory with the help of his Pokemon was easy. Detective work and criminal investigation? Not exactly his strong suit. And since he didn’t know where Team Rocket was or even what they were trying to do, he didn’t have the benefit of getting to do the former.

“Well…Um...Can’t I just...wait until they come to me and then kick their asses then?”  
“You and I both know that isn’t how it works. Here, since you’re humanity’s hero and all, I’ll give you a suggestion. Why don’t you start by checking out Azalea Town? I heard it’s overrun with grunts at the moment. Maybe you can find out what they’re up to and take some out at the same time.” 

“Crys, you’re a genius! Thanks! I’ll head to Azalea Town right now!” Gold was beyond relieved that he didn’t have to do anymore thinking at that moment. Head to a place and battle whoever was there? Sounded easy enough to him. That’s what he was best at.

“Good. Please be careful. And if you need any more advice or some backup, give me a call again. I’m only one town over.” With that, Crys hung up, and Gold was ready to go. 

He jumped up from the couch where he was sitting and snatched his bag up off of the floor. He practically sprinted to the door, grabbing his trusty cue stick on the way out. Once he was out of the house, he hopped on his bike and hurried on his way. 

As he was cycling down Route 35, about to enter town, he prepared himself for what he would encounter when he got there. He recalled the first time he came to Azalea Town to investigate the trafficking of Slowpoke tails. The town was normal then, albeit a bit empty. Most of the residents had run off or locked themselves away as Team Rocket grunts had populated the place instead. Gold assumed that would be as bad as it could be this time too. However, as he rounded the last corner and entered the city, he was greeted by something much different. Slowing to a stop, he immediately noticed the smell of smoke in the air, and the feeling of it stinging at his eyes. 

Taking a look around, his jaw almost dropped to the ground. The whole area was unrecognizable. Once surrounded by trees and populated with buildings, the town seemed to be completely barren. Where there were houses before, there was now only charred, smashed piles of wood and brick. Likewise, the once plentiful trees and bushes were now replaced with stumps and heaps of charcoal. 

Gold couldn’t believe what he was seeing. Was he in the wrong place?

No, this was Azalea Town. He was sure of it. But what the hell happened?


	2. Ruins

Gold couldn't believe his eyes. Azalea Town was totally in ruins. He was expecting a few grunts and maybe some frightened citizens, but nothing like this. Team Rocket's schemes were always juvenile and easy to remedy, at least that's how they all started out. Destroying a whole town without warning? That didn't seem like them at all. 

Hesitantly, Gold hopped off of his bike and began to walk forward, looking around for any signs of…anything. Crystal had said the town would be overrun by grunts, but it was dead quiet all around. The silence was haunting. Every crunch of dead leaves or crack of a burnt twig underfoot sounded ear-splitting in comparison. Dead leaves were plentiful, unsurprisingly, as the area was right in the center of the forest. Gold assumed that was what must have made it so easy to burn so detrimentally. Only a couple of structures were even identifiable anymore, most of them only distinguished by something non-flammable that happened to remain around it. Shattered glass and orange roof tiles from the Pokemon Center, a sign from the Azalea Gym, and a couple of mailboxes all lay scattered and slightly obscured by dirt and burnt debris.

One thing in particular caught Gold’s eye as he was walking through at a Slowpoke’s pace. Something shiny was on the ground. He bent down to brush away the dead leaves that were partially obscuring it, revealing a broken piece of red and teal metal. It was hard to tell, but the pattern was distinct to him. It was part of a lure ball. He would know, Polibo was in one that looked just like it. It was obvious why the ball was here. It was right where Kurt’s house used to be. A shiver ran up Gold’s back at the thought. He knew a lot of people in Azalea Town. Kurt, Bugsy, even Nurse Joy at the Pokemon Center. All of them had been kind to him and helped him on his journey many times before. With the town completely empty...were they okay? Where did they go? Had anyone heard from them? He had way too many questions, and the possible answers to every single one of them filled him with dread.

Luckily, he was snapped out of his dangerous train of thought by the loud ringing of his Pokegear. He practically jumped out of his skin, scrambling to dig it out of his shorts pocket and pick it up. 

“H-Hello?” He was quick to clear his throat upon hearing how nervous he sounded. 

“Gold! Did you make it to Azalea Town?” It was Crystal, and from the sound of her voice, it didn’t seem like he was the only one who was nervous.

“Yeah, I did, but...um,”

“I know. It came on the news right as you left. One resident ran into some officers on Route 34 while trying to run away to Goldenrod and told them the whole town was on fire. When the officers went back to check, the place was burnt to the ground, but the fire was completely extinguished and nobody knows how.” She said. Gold was glad that he didn’t have to be the bearer of bad news, but nothing else about Crystal’s report was relieving whatsoever.

“It just went out? It’s in the middle of the forest, it doesn’t seem like a place where a fire would just decide to stop…”

“I know. But forget about that for now.” Crystal cut him off quickly. “We’ve got more problems. I need you to come up to Goldenrod.” 

“What? Why?” Gold glanced back over his shoulder at his bike that was propped up on the other side of the clearing.

“The radio interference is getting worse and worse. That last broadcast reporting on the fire was full of static and strange noises. It sounds like distorted voices and random Pokemon cries.” Crys explained. “So it can be assumed that Team Rocket might make another move soon, potentially saying something over the radio. So you need to tune in, hop on your bike and get up here.” She sounded progressively more frantic the longer she talked.

“Okay okay, but geez, Crys, try and take a deep breath or something...I’ll be up there as fast as I can, and I’m sure everything will be fine.” Gold hurried back to his bike while he tried to reassure his friend. Admittedly, his ‘everything will be fine’ mentality was teetering on the verge of being compromised after seeing an entire town in ash and ruins, but he was determined not to let that shake him.

“I know...I’m fine, I just...haven’t dealt with anything like this in a long time. I kinda thought my life was gonna go back to normal after that encounter with Arceus.” Crys let out a weak laugh. She sounded exhausted, and all of this chaos had just begun. 

“It’s okay...This is just another adventure right? Maybe it’ll be fun,” Even Gold sounded unsure of his own words. He hoped that wouldn’t be clear in his tone. “No matter what, we’re gonna do it together. Just like we always have.” Crystal was silent for a moment in response. 

“You’re right...Okay...Find me outside the Pokemon Center, okay? I’ll be waiting when you get here.” Without waiting for a response, she hung up. With that, Gold was on his way.

He cycled all the way up to Goldenrod. Going all the way up by Route 24 was usually a long and tedious ride, but he was so zoned out that it seemed like it went by in a flash.


	3. Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gold makes it to Goldenrod city. With Team Rocket in town, trouble is sure to follow.

Gold dug his heel into the ground, grinding to a halt as he approached the Pokemon Center, spotting Crystal outside. He hopped off of his bike, hurrying right up to her. 

“Hey, I’m here! Fast as hell too, I think I set a new record.” Gold’s statement was emphasized by a voice that clearly broadcasted how out of breath he was. “Whatever record there is for biking up from Azalea Town to this exact spot, I definitely beat that just now.”

“Sure,” Crystal rolled her eyes. She clearly wasn’t in the mood to entertain his ceaselessly boastful attitude at that moment. At least now she didn’t seem too panicked, moreso just impatient. “Did you have your radio on while you were riding here?” Fuck. Gold had a weird feeling that he forgot to do something.

“Uh...well...I was in so much of a hurry that I uh-” He awkwardly scratched the back of his neck as he racked his brain for an excuse. Nothing was coming to him. He half-expected a slap across the face. It wouldn’t have been totally unwarranted. Luckily for him, Crys was a bit more composed. 

“You’re damn lucky that nothing actually happened in the time it took you to get up here. Just more of the same old static and weird noises…Well, actually, I guess something happened.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “Maybe this is something you can help with. Whitney is totally pissed. She ran out of her gym a few minutes ago, throwing a fit about how she can’t listen to her radio in peace because of all the interference. I tried to tell her what was going on, but she didn’t listen to me. She stormed over to the radio tower to go complain. Not only is that probably kind of dangerous right now, the gym is totally unattended.” 

“Ha. Sounds like Whitney for sure.” Gold couldn’t help but laugh at that. As scary as it was when Whitney was angry, it was funny to think about when his life wasn’t being immediately endangered by it. “Yeah well...wait, how am I supposed to help with that?”

“I don’t know....She likes you...more than she likes me anyways.” There was a tinge of bitterness in Crystal’s words, but that unsurprisingly flew over Gold’s head. “Maybe she’d go back to her gym if you asked her to. Or at least, you could go check on her and make sure nothing happened over there. It’s been a little while since she went over there.” 

“Oh,” Suddenly Whitney being angry seemed a bit less funny to Gold. “Well...I mean...she’s probably fine. Aren’t there more important things I should be doing? Like...Listening to that radio or whatever you said…”

“I’ve got that more than covered right now, don’t worry. Come on, Gold, where’d that courage from this morning go? I think your words were ‘New Bark Town’s Pokemon Master doesn’t get worried’, right? You’re really more afraid of Whitney than you are of all of Team Rocket?” 

“What?” Gold scoffed at that implication, but it was definitely not as wrong as he’d like to think. It wasn’t that he was scared of the Gym Leader. It was just that he wasn’t really in the mood for getting whacked in the head or having his eardrums blown out by a girlish screech upon trying to get her to do something she didn’t want to. “That’s not it, I just…” The more he talked, he could see a smirk growing wider on Crystal’s face, so he quickly cut himself off. “Fine, fine. I’ll go check on her.” Nothing quite like the feeling of succumbing to peer pressure. 

“Perfect. I’ll be waiting here keeping an eye on the radio. I’ll call you if anything crazy happens...Although if you’re at the Radio Tower, you’ll probably know before I do.” Crys reached over and gave Gold a semi-patronizing pat on the arm, like a mom telling their kid to ‘run along now’ or whatever. 

Begrudgingly, he complied, heading off in the direction of the Radio Tower. He went on foot since it was a short walk, leaving his bike behind and just taking his cue stick along with him. As he made his way over, something strange was made apparent to him; Goldenrod was surprisingly quiet today. Usually the city was bustling, no matter the day. People were constantly going every which way in big crowds, visiting the Game Corner or the Pokemall. Today, the streets were almost empty. Gold felt a pit in his stomach grow larger every time he rounded a corner only to be met with a vacant path ahead. He knew that it must’ve had something to do with what was going on. Everyone in Goldenrod City loved to be on their radios, so they probably all heard the news about Team Rocket sooner than anyone else and were staying home today. 

Gold had just about reached the Radio Tower when a loud noise stopped him dead in his tracks. It was an ear-splitting shattering sound that seemed to come from overhead. Immediately, he jumped back a couple of steps and looked up just in time to see shards of broken glass flying from a window on the second floor of the building he was heading to. Oh shit. If Gold had wanted an adventure, it certainly seemed like it was getting started for real now. Possibly against his better judgement, he sprinted ahead, busting through the front doors to the Radio Tower. 

Upon entering, the first floor looked surprisingly normal. No grunts, no fire, no broken windows...no Whitney. Fuck. He was really gonna be in trouble if something happened to her. Luckily, there was a distressed and disoriented-looking employee at the front desk, so Gold hurried up to him. He slammed one hand onto the desk, using the other to readjust his hat that had fallen askew in his panic.

“Hey! I heard that crash. Did something happen upstairs? Is the gym leader here?” He asked. It was a miracle that the employee could even understand him with how fast he spewed the words out.

“Ah- the gym leader just went upstairs, I think she was looking for someone, but-” The man was cut off by a deafening screech coming from the stairwell. Both him and Gold quickly turned to look and were greeted by the source of the noise. Coming down the stairs was a pair of Team Rocket grunts, each clutching one arm of a screeching Whitney who they were dragging along with them. 

“Let go of me!” The gym leader was kicking and shaking her arms all about, but there was no way she was getting out of that grip. The grunts seemed to be trying to bring her along out of the building, so Gold sprung into action, jumping out in front of them to block their path to the door. 

“Stop it right there!” He did his best attempt at a threatening demand, but he was apparently a bit rusty, as his voice cracked right at the end of his shout. Nonetheless, he dug in his bag for one of his Pokeballs, making it clear what his intention was. 

“Out of the way kid, don’t you see we’re-” One of the grunts stopped to give Gold a lookover. This wasn’t out of the ordinary for him, he was a bit of a celebrity after all. But something in particular stood out to the Team Rocket goon. “Oh you’re that kid. The boss said to keep an eye out for you.”

“Huh, me?” Gold tilted his head in confusion, but quickly realized what he meant. “Ohhh, your boss must know I’m the big time hero that’s already put a stop to his plans twice, right? That’s what you meant! Well, that makes sense.” His demeanor switched right back to his normal cocky one so fast that even Whitney rolled her eyes. 

“Well, whatever you say, kid… All I know is that the boss said you were gonna get in the way. Guess he was right, ‘cause here you are...Right in the way. So run along before we make you move, punk.” To Gold’s disappointment, the grunts looked far from intimidated. They definitely just seemed more annoyed that he was in the way. He was about to open his mouth again, probably to spout off some taunt about how he was gonna kick their asses, when he heard the door open behind him. He whipped around, ready to threaten the next enemy that showed their face, but was relieved to see that it was just Crys. 

“Hey! Is everything alright?” She sounded totally out of breath. She had definitely sprinted all the way from the Pokemon Center.

“Well, uh…” Gold vaguely gestured to the grunts holding the captive gym leader standing behind him. Crys peered past him and quickly stood up to attention upon seeing what was going on. 

“Ah! Oh geez!” She fumbled with her own bag, trying to get a hold of one of her own Pokemon. “We can take them right? Two on two?” Sharing the glory with Crys was admittedly a little disappointing, but he wasn’t in a place to complain. She did run all the way here after all.

“Of course! It’ll be nothing!” Gold gripped the first Pokeball his hand found in his bag, knocking it forward with his cue stick, sending out Polibo. Crys followed suit, dropping Parasee’s Pokeball to the floor and kicking it with her foot to send it out. 

The two grunts let go of Whitney, shoving her out of the way as they dug through their own pockets. The antsy gym leader wasted no time scrambling over to stand behind the counter with the employee who, at this point, looked like he was close to passing out. After some fumbling around, the Team Rocket trainers sent out a Golbat and a Sandlash. Gold was far from intimidated. He wasted no time.

“Polibo, bubble beam!” And with that, the battle began. With four Pokemon out on the field, the room soon erupted into shouts, crashes and blasts of all kinds. Gold and Crys tried to be a little conscious of the delicate space they were fighting in, but their opponents were much less tactful. 

“Parasee, use stun spore!”

“Golbat, bite!”

“Sandslash, fury swipes!” 

The battle stretched on for a few minutes, but, unsurprisingly, Team Rocket’s Pokemon were no match for Polibo and Parasee. The defeated grunts recalled their Pokemon, stuffing the Pokeballs back into their pockets with a couple of huffs and grumbles. 

“You got lucky that time, kid. Next time you get in our way, it won’t be as pretty for you.” 

“As if!” Gold scoffed. “I don’t know why your gang even tries anymore. Team Rocket is washed up! Nothing but a band of petty criminals trying to pull off stunts that are way more than they can handle.”

“That was the old Team Rocket.” The grunt said with a grin. “We’re back and brand new now. We’ve got a brand new leader. Someone who’s gonna lead Team Rocket to greatness.”

“A new leader?” Gold scratched his chin in thought. What the heck had happened to Giovanni? Did he just give up? He seemed so adamant to rebuild Team Rocket the last time they saw him after their encounter with Arceus. That was what he told the three dex-holders before disappearing again. That Team Rocket would be back and better than ever. But now they suddenly had a new leader?

“Yeah! He’s got some great new plan to take over the world. He’s been havin’ us go on missions all over the region! First we have things to do all over Johto, then Kanto, then Sinnoh-” The grunt was interrupted by a nudge from his partner. “What?” He looked up, quickly going pale as he stared past Gold to the doorway behind him. “Ah- Uh-, hey there, boss…”

Boss? Gold whipped around, turning to face the doors as they swung open. To his surprise, he was greeted by a familiar figure. He almost couldn’t believe his eyes. Dressed in all black, a deadpan expression, long red hair…

“Silver!”


	4. Cold

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gold and Crys finally reunite with an old friend...just not in the way they were expecting.
> 
> Now things are really getting going ;))

“Silver!” Gold gasped. This was the last thing he’d been expecting. It had been a long while since he’d seen his old rival. After their encounter with Arceus, their encounters with each other had been few and far between. Gold always assumed it was because Silver was off training. Like he told Giovanni, he wanted to become stronger. He wanted to become the strongest trainer he could ever be and take down his father’s organization. Gold and Crys had stayed close to home, hanging mostly around Goldenrod. Crys was always doing research in the big city, and Gold had his job at the daycare to keep up with. Silver, on the other hand, was an enigma. They never really knew where he went off to, and they never thought to ask. That’s just the way Silver was. He came and went and nobody questioned it. 

They’d only seen him a couple times since then. The Johto dex holders had been called for a couple meetings now and again, which the Exchanger begrudgingly attended, never once mentioning where he’d been or where he was going. 

Of course, there was also that phase he’d gone through where he would visit Gold’s house to use his TV. Even these visits were scarce and mysterious though. Silver would break into Gold’s house while he was at work (either through an open window or a door that he had forgotten to lock), and sit mere inches away from the TV to watch that day’s episode of Proteam Omega. Gold would come home from work to the redhead hunched over in his living room, and usually exchange a couple of quick words with him before he inevitably left, running off to who knows where. Though the break-ins were annoying, Gold never outright told him to stop visiting. For all he knew, Silver didn’t have a regular place to live, and it would be rude to kick him out of the one place where he felt at least somewhat welcome. 

But here he was now, and Gold was excited. He immediately assumed Silver was there to help stop Team Rocket. That was always his goal, of course. That meant they could all battle again side by side. It would be just like their old adventuring days. 

“It’s good to see you, old buddy!” Gold greeted him with the friendliest smile he could manage. He approached to throw an arm around Silver in a gesture of fraternal warmth and greeting, but was quickly stopped by a gloved hand jutting out in front of him. He wasn’t exactly surprised. Silver had never been the touchy-feely type anyways. 

“What brings you here? It’s been so long!” Once he’d collected himself a little bit, Gold quickly noticed that nobody else in the room was matching his energy whatsoever. Silver looked cold and distant, but that wasn’t exactly outside of the norm. Crys had taken a few steps back, her eyes wide, lips slightly parted in shock, and Whitney’s jaw was practically on the floor. Gold looked back at both of the girls, puzzled. “What’s the matter, you guys? Aren’t you gonna say hi?”   
After a slight pause, Crys raised a shaky hand, pointing a finger right at Silver. More specifically, pointing to his shirt. Gold initially hadn’t noticed anything different. The black and red jacket was what he’d always worn. However, upon squinting and looking a little closer, the Hatcher noticed what the girls had been gawking at. Up in the corner of his shirt, where there had once been a pocket, there was now a big red letter ‘R’. Everyone knew exactly what that meant. 

“Ah!” Gold staggered back upon comprehending the Team Rocket emblem on his friend’s shirt. “Hey, Silvy, what gives?” Silver only sighed in response, walking past him to get to the grunts, who looked nervous as all hell. 

“You two...Why would you waste your time battling him? I told you not to. You don’t stand a chance. Now you’ve just wasted our time.” He hissed, his venomous tone causing the grunts to cower back even more. 

“S-Sorry about that, boss.” Boss... In the midst of his surprise, Gold had completely forgotten what they had been talking about right before Silver got there. He looked the redhead up and down, taking in everything one more time. His eyes were cold and unfamiliar, his stance was rigid, and right there on his shirt was the emblem of the organization he had sworn he would destroy. All of the pieces finally fit together. 

Silver was the new leader of Team Rocket. 

A frightening silence fell upon the room. How was this possible? Ever since Gold had met his rival, he only had one goal. He wanted to take out Team Rocket forever. Even after reuniting with his father, he refused to associate with them. He let Giovanni run away again, leaving him for the second time in his life, just because he hated everything that the man stood for. Everyone here knew that much. Every pair of eyes in the room was glued right onto him accompanied by slack jaws and clenched fists. Silver hated being looked at. His body tensed up even more than it was before, then he stomped his foot on the floor. 

“You!” He snapped at the grunts, who stood to attention. “Get the hell out!” Without hesitation, they complied, scrambling past everyone and heading out the door. Following right behind them was the Radio Tower employee, who escorted Whitney out as well. Now it was only the three of them left. The silence was suddenly much more painful. Luckily, Crystal was quick to break it once they were all alone.

“I...I don’t understand...Why?” Her voice was barely above a whisper and she didn’t seem to know what words she wanted to use. It was obvious she was getting emotional, she was probably doing her best not to get choked up mid-sentence. 

“Why?...” Silver’s eyes were on the floor. He wouldn’t look at either of them. “I couldn’t expect the two of you to ever understand.” 

“What the hell are you talking about?” Gold sputtered out. “We wouldn’t understand? We’re supposed to be your friends! We were working together! We’ve known each other for...how long? We took down Team Rocket together! And suddenly you’re working with them and we don’t even get a ‘why’?” Silver winced and, for a moment, he looked familiar. Though brief, a look of hesitation and discomfort crossed his face. It was almost as if hearing the fact that he was working with Team Rocket coming out of someone else’s mouth was unsettling to him. He quickly shook out his head to rid himself of that feeling.

“You wouldn’t get it...You don’t need to get it. It doesn’t concern you.” As he was talking, the new Team Rocket leader started pacing around the room. He scanned the walls, the floor and the counters with his eyes like he was looking for something. “I don’t want to fight with either of you now, you should both just go home and forget about this.” After seemingly not finding anything, he began to head for the door. 

“No!” There was no way Gold was going to just let him leave right after that. His mind was racing with unanswered questions. Why did Silver join Team Rocket? What happened to Giovanni? What were their plans? There was no way to just go home after this. The Hatcher jumped over to stand in front of the doorway, holding his billiard stick out horizontally to block it off. “You can’t just leave like that! What’s going on? Tell us!” he demanded. Silver stopped in front of him once the door was blocked off. He didn’t say anything, he continued to stare at the floor. 

It only took a moment for Gold to become unnerved by their close proximity, coupled with how quiet it had gotten yet again. He opened his mouth to break the silence, but was quickly stopped. Silver reached up and grabbed the middle of the billiard stick with a strength Gold wasn’t aware he had. Both boys were completely rigid now, their whole bodies tensing as they gripped the stick. Neither of them attempted to pull the damn thing, they were just holding it in place with every ounce of strength they had. After a minute of this static tug-of-war game, Silver finally lifted his head. He looked up, staring Gold directly in the eyes. 

Gold felt a shiver run up his spine. The eyes he was looking into were completely foreign. They looked like frigid ice, not a hint of emotion or soul showing through. The feeling that rushed through the ravenhead’s body at the sight caused him to lose his grip on the billiard stick. It felt straight down to the hard tile floor, hitting it with an earsplitting clang. Before he could even comprehend what was going on, Silver had run past him, right out the door. All Gold saw was a flash of red out of the corner of his eye. It felt as though his vision was blurring. When he regained his senses a moment later, Crys was standing in front of him, a worried expression on her face. 

“Hey, look at me...are you alright?” She asked softly.

“Uh…” Gold rubbed the side of his head, turning to look out the glass doors of the building and out onto the street. The street, once again, was totally empty. “Shit...he’s fast.”


	5. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gold and Crystal recollect themselves as they consider what their next move may be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is an extremely short filler chapter. Hopefully the next chapter will be much longer (*hint hint*).

About an hour had passed since the incident at the Radio Tower. After a short interview with a news team, and an interrogation from the local police, Gold and Crys made their way out of the city, heading down towards the daycare so they could clear their heads for a while. They made most of the walk in silence. Neither of them really knew what to say. 

“So…” With a heavy sigh, Gold pressed his back against the Daycare’s fence and slid down until he was sitting on the grass. “What exactly are we supposed to do now?” The silence that followed his question was frightening to him. It wasn’t like Crys to not have a plan. It was something Gold always relied on. He could be totally caught between a rock and a hard place, or in some life or death situation, but he could always tell himself that Crys would have a plan. He was confident in himself to pull off just about anything, but he desperately needed somebody to give him the word.

In that same vein, Crys relied on Gold too. She may not have been the strongest, but she didn’t worry about that, she didn’t need to be. She knew that, so long as she could figure out what to do, Gold could pull it off. And figuring it out was usually the easy part for her. Typically, Silver would have been part of their plans too. Though he was rarely around, it was always easy to call him up when they needed an extra set of hands. Gold couldn’t be in two places at once, and Silver could do just about anything he could do. The two boys never got along flawlessly, but they knew how to put their differences aside when it really mattered.

But Silver was never one to stick to the plan. He didn’t rely on anyone else in the same way Gold and Crystal relied on each other. He thought things out for himself and took action in whatever way he thought was best in the moment. Sure, he would follow along with whatever Crys asked of him, but if he thought flying head-first into a pit of raging legendary Pokemon was the right move to make in the moment, he would do it with zero word of warning. You could tell that, even if he was going along with everyone’s plans at the time, he was always doing things for his own reasons. 

This time, there was no plan. Crys was stumped. 

“We don’t know where they’re going next...we don’t know what their goal is…We don’t know why they’re doing this.” She leaned against the fence beside Gold and solemnly shook her head as she wracked her brain for any sign of an idea. “I still just...I can’t believe it.” She rubbed the bridge of her nose between her fingers. “This is really bad...Team Rocket isn’t going to work the same way it used to. Under a new leader...Silver really isn’t messing around either. I have no idea what he’s going to do…”   
Gold was suddenly reminded of what he’d seen earlier that day in Azalea Town. That whole city burned to the ground, in ruins. It’s citizens had been driven out, had their homes destroyed, and were possibly hurt in the process. He shuddered at the thought that that was what the “new” Team Rocket was going to be about. Silver had really done that? His old friend, who he’d been on countless adventures with, who had always fought against all this evil organization bullshit...He ordered a whole town to be destroyed. 

That was only the beginning.


	6. Play Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Crystal busy, Gold is left to come up with his own plan. And that can't possibly go well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait! I swear I'm getting back in the swing of things now.

Gold didn’t want to stray too far from Goldenrod after the run-in at the Radio Tower. Despite how things had gone, well, radio silent after the incident, he remained paranoid. He was just waiting for the next thing to happen.

He hated just sitting and waiting. It felt horrible knowing that was the only option he had. The tension, the stress, every feeling overcoming Gold was willing him to jump up and charge into action. But he couldn't.

So there he was. Contained to his sofa at home like it was a prison. Crys had returned to work with the promise of calling Gold if anything of interest happened. His Pokegear never left his side as he waited obsessively for that call. However, days had gone by without news. He couldn't stand this any longer. He had to know if anything was happening. 

He sat straight up on his couch and opened up his Pokegear, scrolling through his list of contacts to find Crystal's name. The thought of interrupting her at work didn't cross his mind, nor would it stop him if it did. He just needed to talk to somebody. As he swiped farther down the list of names, he paused for a moment. 

Silver. 

Gold still had his Pokegear number, of course. He wondered for a moment what would happen if he were to call him. His finger hovered over the button. What if…. Would Silver even answer? What would he say if he did? Would he be mad? Maybe he'd hang up right away. That sounded like something he would do. 

But what if...what if...what if…

Gold hit the call button. 

Immediately, his whole body tensed up with panic and regret. He knew he should hang up, but he couldn't bring himself to move. So the phone just rang...and rang...until eventually, it stopped. At first, Gold thought that it was simply going to the answering machine, but after a moment, he heard breathing on the other line. He had picked up. 

"H...hello?" Gold spoke first, since it was clear he was going to have to. 

"What?" Oh Arceus. Silver's voice sent a chill up his spine. It was icy cold and struck a fear into the Hatcher's heart that was enough to keep him quiet for a moment. He couldn't find the words to answer, his voice was stuck in his throat and he felt he might choke on it. "...I'm hanging up, Gold." 

"W-Wait…" Gold sputtered out. "Don't, I...just wanted to ask if you...uh…" Fuck. Ask what? He didn't have anything in mind. He didn't even intend to make this phone call, but he couldn't just let Silver hang up now that he'd gotten this far. "....If you have any plans for tonight?" 

Now it was Silver's turn to be silent for a moment. 

"If I...what?" 

"If you have plans tonight….Y-Y'know, cause like, I'm not busy, so I was just wondering…It's been a while since we've hung out…" Gold was mentally cursing himself. He probably sounded absolutely insane. He just found out his old rival was the new leader of the world's biggest criminal organization and now he was asking him about his evening activities. He prepared himself for Silver to hang up, but, to his surprise, he stayed on the line. 

"I...guess I don't have any plans." Came Silver's soft response. That frigid tone was gone from his voice, probably because he'd been caught off guard. 

"Cool!" Gold had a plan going now. If he could get some time alone with Silver, maybe he could get to the bottom of all this. Even though the redhead had previously been dismissive and stormed out when questioned, Gold knew him well enough to know that he would crack if there was enough pressure on him. It would be as easy as backing him into a corner. "Well, how about you come visit? It's been, like, months since you've broken in and-" 

"I'm not coming into your house." Shit. Seems Silver was a little too smart for a plan like that. Plan B…

"Okay, well….you don't have to come in my house… How about, uhh… Well we can just hang outside right? Maybe up on my roof? It looks uh...kinda cool up ther sometimes." 

"Ugh…." Not a promising sound. "I guess so…But only for a while. I...I don't even know why I'm entertaining this. I shouldn't be wasting time...but fine, I'll stop by…." Yes! 

"Awesome! I'll see you then!" 

"Bye," Silver hung up without another word. Gold was overjoyed. He couldn't wait to tell Crystal that he made a plan this time! Admittedly, it wasn't rock solid. In fact, it was flimsy. But it was something, and that's better than what they had before. 

Now all that was left was getting ready. Everything had to be perfect for his playdate with an old friend.


End file.
